12th Dec 2006, 02:17
I've seen video of a Delorean/Lotus V8 conversion, and seen Delorean/Buick Grand National 3.8 V6 and Delorean/GM Vortec V6 conversion with my own eyes... so I'd imagine that a Northstar conversion would be doable, with enough time and money.
7th Apr 2008, 21:11
VERY impressive conversion. That does not sound like an easy one at all. My hats off to you.
I would love to see pictures of the job in process and finished result.
To clean the stainless steel, I would try Collinite 850 metal wax.
http://www.superiorcarcare.net/collinite-metal-wax--850.html
Collinite makes fantastic products that not many people know about, but those that do usually swear by it (myself included). They are actually marine products. I do not have a DeLorean, so never tired this cleaner/wax on one, but based on my experience with this product and what you want to do, it seems like just the ticket to me.
As with anything of this nature, of course try a small inconspicuous area first to see if you like the results. But I think you will.
Maybe you could even try the product on the small area as I suggested, then power up the flux capacitor, and travel into the future to see how it holds up over time before you use it on the whole car. I am sure you could get the D-12 up to 88 MPH in nothing flat with the Northstar.
Sorry, I could not resist...
28th Feb 2009, 21:33
Regarding your different shine on different parts of the car: The surface of these cars was hand polished not machined. There is an abrasive pad available from Delorean Motor Company which can be used to polish the car. It was felt that hand created texture to the surface was better than machine created texture because you can match it yourself. Maybe this would help you if the entire car was done with this pad.
28th Jul 2013, 07:33
For those concerned about faded panels, there are kits, which can be purchased from on-line DeLorean specialists, that can be used to shine faded car panels.
Also, you can hire stainless steel specialists who will use purpose-made tools to re-grain the panels to new or like-new condition.
There is actually a British car restoration show, "Wheeler Dealers," and on one episode, they do a light restoration on a DeLorean. The mechanic hires a specialist to re-grain the panels using a sandpaper and horsehair tool. It's quite interesting.
You can find the episode on streetfire.net. If you're a DeLorean enthusiast, it's definitely worth checking out.
9th Nov 2015, 01:12
Too bad that pictures can't be put on this site. I would love to be able to see the result of that swap.
9th Nov 2015, 08:31
Personally I like the visual impact of the Bricklin or Pantera better than this car. Just never saw its appeal, movie car or not. I only sat in one of these, but am sure its lack of performance and poor cabin ventilation would not have made a buyer out of me. And I love most cars. I drove new Datsun-Nissan Z cars in this era with glass T Tops. Not the hottest performers either, but very sound sports cars when new.
7th Dec 2006, 19:56
I paid the man 9 grand for the car and the body damage was almost 2 grand and I paid the welding person around 250 dollars... so in all around 12,000 dollars... not bad for an exotic type thing.